What to expect

To secure a booking with Burnside Hospital’s Maternity Unit, please contact us as soon as your pregnancy is confirmed.

Your GP will be able to refer you to a Burnside accredited obstetrician. You can view a list of our accredited obstetricians here. Your chosen obstetrician will do the rest.

By choosing Burnside’s Maternity Service, you have access to all of our pre and postnatal services and maternity facilities, and of course the wider services available at Burnside Hospital.

There is no booking fee, but we recommend you contact your health fund to determine your private health entitlements.

For more information about booking to have your baby at Burnside Hospital, please phone our Maternity Unit on 8202 7219. We would love to hear from you! 

The cost of your hospital stay when you have a baby at Burnside depends on whether or not you have health insurance and the level of cover you have.

We recommend you contact your private health care insurer and check that you have obstetrics cover. Ask your insurer what other out of pocket expenses there will be. Every insurer is different, and the cost to you will also depend on the type of cover you have. Please also check if you have family cover (or cover that extends to your newborn baby) so that your baby is also covered should it need to be admitted in his or her own right into the special care nursery. Medicare does not cover private hospital stays but does contribute to the medical cost of your baby's paediatric care.

There are other costs associated with having a baby, such as your obstetrician, ultrasound, pathology, paediatrician and anaesthetist. Although you may not require all of these services, they are separate costs that you will also need to check with your private health insurer and other service providers. All babies, whether admitted or not to the nursery, are ordinarily required to be under the supervision of a Paediatrician.

If you don’t have private health cover, you are welcome to phone our accounts department or the Maternity Unit on 8202 7219 for further information regarding the cost of staying at Burnside Hospital. This relates to the hospital costs, not the medical fees of any specialists caring for you or your baby.

Although every birth is different, the usual length of stay is four nights (going home on day five) for a natural birth or five nights for a caesarean section.

We offer an Early Discharge Option for those who choose to and are suitable to go home early (within agreed conditions). If you are interested in this option, please speak to your midwife.

Our discharge time is strictly 10am. This allows us to prepare your vacated room for incoming patients. If you are unable to leave at this time, you will be asked to wait in a lounge. Alternatively, you may find it convenient to leave the unit on the previous evening.

Burnside Hospital is pleased to offer an Early Discharge Option, which supports the diverse needs of women and their families.

In our experience, there are occasions when patients request to be discharged earlier to meet their personal requirements and we are happy to facilitate such requests (if appropriate).

An early discharge can be considered either at the patient's, obstetrician's or hospital's request. An early discharge must be approved and authorised by the patient's treating obstetrician.

Those who choose the Early Discharge Option are provided complimentary support as well as a gift upon discharge.

For more information on the Early Discharge Option, please contact the Maternity Unit on 8202 7219.